The Sprout
WWI Practice Trenches in Wytham Woods
The newsletter for North Hinksey & Botley
Issue 132 November 2018
The Sprout
Issue 132, November 2018
Contents
3 WWCC update
7 Cumnor Choral
9 Leave no Trace
13 Xpressway Legal challenge
15 Botley/Kennington PPG
17 Remembrance
19 Parish Council’s new website
21 Don’t burn Ernie!
23 Stephen Howse’s Clock
27 Really Affordable Homes
29 CAB on Hate Crime
31 Brownies and Badges
35 Wytham Woods in WWI
37 Crumb of Comfort (3)
39 Randoms and Photo comp
43 Local Organizations
From the Editor
11th November is the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, and
serendipitously this year it is also Remembrance Sunday. Our cover
picture is an early aerial photo of the practice trenches in Wytham Woods,
investigated by Mike Bartlam on page 35. On page 17 is a reminder of the
Parish Council’s Service of Remembrance in Botley Cemetery, with some
extracts from the autograph book of a WWI nurse. This issue also includes
a range of local initiatives you may want to know about a legal challenge
to the proposed Expressway (p.13), good news about a plan to build
affordable homes in Dean Court (p.27), help for victims of hate crimes
(p.29), and an invitation to join the patients’ participation group for the local
medical practice (p.15). The Parish Council has gone to some trouble to
make its website more accessible (p.19). There’s a history of the Elms
Parade clock on page 23, and a thought-provoking review of the different
rules for litter in wild and remote places (p.9). If you too have been
recording the carnage as our former shopping centre bites the dust, you
may be interested in the new Sprout competition on page 39. Finally,
Bonfire Night is coming up, so please make sure your bonfire hasn’t
become a winter retreat for hedgehogs before you set fire to it (p.21). Lots
going on then, and it’s all here in your favourite local rag!
Ag MacKeith
Update on the Shopping Centre from WWCC
Key works taking place during October and early November include:
Completing demolition removing foundations/ crushing materials
Completing 15 temporary car parking spaces opposite Elms Court
Completing site hoarding and forming the long-term pedestrian path
through the site
Casting the concrete building frame and slabs for Block B
Erecting tower cranes
Further excavations and ground preparations;
Piling works.
Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Tuesday 27th November at
7:30pm in the Church Hall of St Peter and Paul's Church, West Way. It
would be helpful if you could let us know if you expect to attend, RSVP to
westwayconcern@gmail.com.
A look back over the past year
Changes at the shopping centre
The remaining traders left the centre
A mystery graffiti artist used the boarded-up units to make some
strong comments
This was replaced by commissioned street art and artwork by the
children of Botley School
The site was finally sold to Botley Development Company (Mace) in
January, for £12.4m, the Vale having reduced the price by £1.2m
The former Grant Thornton building and Elms Court were re-fitted to
provide accommodation for temporary replacements for Seacourt
Hall, the Baptist Church, Co-op and Tesco. Portacabins for
Chancellor’s estate agents and Lloyd’s pharmacy were provided.
WWCC engagement with Vale planning department and Mace / SDC
Over the past year, WWCC have raised a number of issues about the
centre, and the following problems were resolved:
Lack of waste bins and then over-full bins in the centre
The need for clearly marked pedestrian access routes
Contractor vehicles parked in neighbouring streets
Parking restrictions
Lighting
Problems of access for those of limited mobility (the Vale’s Equality
Officer was also involved in resolving this).
Some of the concerns raised by WWCC during the planning
consultation process were taken into consideration, namely:
Construction traffic routing via Westminster Way into the site
Adequate cycle parking stands to be provided for the retail units.
Delivery routes using Arthray Road, and unloading of vehicles in
shared areas
Landscaping of the main street through the centre, which includes
steps and ramps
Lack of secure cycle parking for the student accommodation.
WWCC's ongoing role
WWCC continues its two-fold role:
To provide a means of communication on the development and to
raise issues of concern with Mace and their contractors
To continue to monitor planning conditions until the work is finished.
From the WWCC newsletter
Cumnor Choral Society 60 YEARS young!
In October 1958 very few people can have realized what was about to be
created. Cumnor Choral Society started as a group of people, keen on
music, who all enjoyed a good sing. Thanks to efficient management and
enthusiastic members, it succeeded.
The age range at the first rehearsal was 9 to 87 years. Naturally,
numbers fluctuated. Talented young conductors moved on to higher
musical careers and young people in the choir moved on to further
education, parenthood and other challenges. Other members joined and
soon realized the delights of a weekly sing leading to a performance with
a paying audience. Our next concert is Haydn’s ‘Creation’(see below).
Voice tests were never (and will never be) part of the Choral Society. All
that is asked is enthusiasm for singing and a willingness to accept the
challenge of music, which can be so rewarding. One of the rewards
comes at every rehearsal, in the form of a cuppa and a biscuit and an
opportunity to meet new friends and renew old friendships. Talking is as
important as singing.
Sixty years! Who would have thought it would last so long? We must be
doing something right. Over the
years, most of the original
members have moved up to join
the heavenly choir, but many more
have kept it going strong.
The Choral Society always
welcomes new members. Every
member brings something new to
enrich and develop the Society,
and takes from it something
pleasant, personal and permanent.
Now sixty years old, Cumnor
Choral Society has established
itself as a Choral Society worth
listening to and worth joining. It
has no intentions of retiring – ever!
Here's to the next 60 years and
beyond.
Rosie Smith (Founder member)
Leave no Trace
When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, it became changed for
ever. The image of his boot-print in moon dust became iconic. But, apart
from the American flag, a lot of other debris was left there too.
Everywhere we go we leave traces of ourselves. Some, like bacteria and
footprints, are inevitable. But most of what we leave behind is down to
human carelessness.
Every few weeks, the John Muir Trust sends volunteers to the summit of
Ben Nevis to pick
up the trash left
behind by visitors.
Of the 18 bin bags
collected in 2011,
ten were filled with
banana skins.
Over one
thousand skins
were recovered,
along with orange
peel and the
remains of other
fruits and egg shells. Apparently visitors think this behaviour is acceptable
because what they leave behind is “biodegradable“. This betrays a false
concept of what the word biodegradable actually means. It does mean
that, unlike plastic, it will eventually get broken down. But the key word
here is eventually. There are many estimates of exactly how long it takes
because it depends on environmental conditions such as rainfall and
temperature. The organic waste does not just self-destruct like the secret
instructions in Mission Impossible. It has to be broken down by insects,
fungi and bacteria. Mountain tops are cold, inhospitable places with low
biodiversity and consequent low breakdown rates. Estimates for exactly
how long it takes range between two to ten years or more. But that does
not include the annoying little country of origin labels stuck on the skin.
That’s plastic. That does not biodegrade. (Look in any homemade
compost and you will see the wretched things.)
When this detritus does finally get broken down, there is a further
problem. It becomes fertiliser. Plants which live on mountain tops are
adapted to surviving in thin, nutrient-poor soils. These tiny delicate plants
form a very fragile ecosystem. With additional fertiliser, other plants,
springing from seeds blown in on the wind or brought in on walker’s boots,
are able to survive and thrive. These aggressive incomers out-compete
the mountain plants for resources and destroy them.
Exactly the same phenomenon occurs when people climb to mountain
summits to spread grandad’s ashes. Now that 70% of people are
cremated, people compete with each other to do something ’special’.
Grandad cannot just be laid to rest in his favourite rose bed. His urn must
be dragged up a mountain where he becomes unwelcome fertiliser.
Those in charge of these delicate habitats are begging people to think
twice about this. So many visitors are now bringing ash with them that it
can be inches thick in some places. The plants are smothered. The
ecosystem is dead. In other countries, the problem is just as bad.
Everest is now so popular as a destination that tons of human excrement
are left there every year. No-one is willing to bring it back down.
And then there are cigarette butts. I have never found a place, no matter
how remote, that is not contaminated by dog-ends. The Ring of Brodgar,
an ancient stone circle in Orkney that has been held sacred for thousands
of years is thick with them. Would people stub out their cigarettes in the
aisle of a church? Probably not. But then they think of ’outside’ as a
limitless space where everything quietly disappears and is not their
problem. There is also, again, this bizarre belief that butts will biodegrade
so it is O.K. (even though illegal) to drop them. Totally wrong. The filters
in butts are made of plastic.
Unless removed, they sit in the soil for thousands of years, leaching their
toxins into the ground with unknown consequences. Some birds are
known to pick them up and use them as nest material. It may be that the
nicotine acts as an insecticide and reduces the number of parasites
feeding on the baby birds. Nobody is really sure. But this behaviour
shows how easy it is for birds to find butts in natural habitats. Next time
you are walking in Raleigh Park or Wytham Woods, look down at the
path. I guarantee that cigarette-butts will be there somewhere.
People are encouraged to go walking and climbing to improve their
mental and physical health. Standing ankle deep in piles of human
remains, banana skins and dog-ends is unlikely to have a positive effect
on either!
Linda Losito
OxfordCambridge Expressway legal challenge
In September, the government announced that the preferred route for the
Oxford-Cambridge expressway will be some combination of west and
east routes around the city:
The expressway is expected to facilitate development in the corridor
between Oxford and Cambridge, including the development of 100,000
more homes.
A western route would have a significant impact on Botley and North
Hinksey. It could involve the junction closures, road widening, new
signals, new/higher barriers, faster traffic, more traffic, as well as
construction work to facilitate all of this. The A34 already splits our
community, but an expressway would split it even more. It would also
affect wildlife sites along the route, including Port Meadow. The route
was chosen with no public consultation, and no formal environmental
impact assessment process.
The Berks, Bucks and Oxon Wildlife Trust is legally challenging this
decision. To find out more, including how to donate to the legal challenge,
see https://www.bbowt.org.uk/wildlife/nature-matters/oxford-cambridge-
expressway. BBOWT’s address is The Lodge, 1 Armstrong Road,
Littlemore OX4 4XT.
Riki Therivel
Patients to the fore in Botley and Kennington
From April 2016 it has been a contractual requirement for all English
medical practices to form patient participation groups (PPG). Some PPGs
meet regularly, while some form online groups.
PPGs operate according to local needs. They can play important roles
including:
Advising the practice on the patient perspective
Organising health promotion events
Communicating with the wider patient body
Fund raising to improve the services provided by the practice
Who is involved with the PPG? Our PPG is a group of people who are
either patients of the Practice or work in some capacity at the Health
Centres. Patients may come along to meetings or join the committee.
The group aims to consist of as diverse a range of people as possible.
What are we currently doing?
A patient survey in conjunction with the practice to improve the
patient experience.
Putting on health promotion events and talks
Networking with support groups
We have started to write an action plan detailing what we would like to
see at the practice, including support for the doctors and staff who work
there and information for patients.
If you are a patient of the Botley and Kennington Practice then the PPG
is your voice. Please get involved! If you can, read our notice board
when you are at the health centre; and of course, read our articles in the
Kennington Chronicle and The Sprout. We are looking for members with
a range of healthcare perspectives
and needs who can make a
positive contribution to the current
group.
Please contact me (by phone on
07970 626443 or 01865 327739 or
by email at sybuck@hotmail.co.uk)
or any of the PPG group that you
may know.
Sylvia Buckingham, Chairperson
Excerpts from my Grandmother’s Autograph Book
Remembrance Sunday this year is on 11th November, which is also the
100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. There will be the
usual Parish Council-run ecumenical service at the Commonwealth War
Graves in Botley Cemetery, starting at 10.45.
The brief entries below are from the autograph book of Alice Wainwright,
grandmother of a Botley resident, who lent it to soldiers she was nursing.
It’s not clear whether it was the
soldiers themselves who wrote the
entries. The photo is of Holborn
Military Hospital (which closed in
1919 and is now demolished) with
a couple of nurses just visible
through the gateway on the right.
The mills of God grind slowly
But they grind exceedingly small,
So soft and slow the great wheels
go they scarcely move at all;
And the souls of men fall into them
And are powdered into dust,
And in the dust grows sweet white flowers Love, Hope, Trust.
(E. Damiral, Holborn Military Hospital)
Do little things as though they are great things
And you will learn to do great things
As though they were little things. (A.M. Stace)
Logic
A young mother of eight
Sat up very late
Mending her husband’s pyjamas,
Why?
‘A stitch in time saves nine.’ ( A.J. Cuff R.G.A 14.10.1918 )
(My grandmother was so shocked at the punch line that she tried to
scrub it out in the book!)
Viv Smith
Your new Parish Council website
North Hinksey Parish Council has a new website launching at the
beginning of November.
The home page will be changing from this:
to this:
The website can be found at the same URL: http://northhinksey-pc.gov.uk
and the change will happen around 1st November. We expect little if
any unavailability of the website during the transition, but if you do
experience any problems, try refreshing or come back a bit later.
The new website has been created by Oxford-based company Kitson
Consulting. It is built in Wordpress, probably the most well-used website
platform, meaning it will be easy to keep up to date. It is also mobile-
optimized. Instead of seeing a smaller version of the site on your phone
or tablet, the website pages will adjust to the screen size, with menus,
images and text displayed in more useful ways. We have tidied up the
pages to make the information more focused and hope it will provide
easier access to the information you need.
Please take a look and let us know what you think. Also, as with all new
websites, there are likely to be bugs and mistakes so please let us know
if you spot any. You can email me at lberrett.nhpc@gmail.com.
We are also looking for more images of Botley and North Hinksey to use
on the home page. That’s where we need your help. We’d like to feature
different images each season or even every month. Look out for details
of a picture competition on the website and our Facebook page.
Lorna Berrett, NHPC Councillor and Webmaster
Don’t burn Ernie!
I love bonfires I have deep and good memories of helping my father,
feeding a fire in the garden as Autumn tumbled the leaves from the trees. I
loved the smell, the crackling sound and the sight of tongues of flame
reaching skyward.
Bonfires and hedgehogs are tragically related ... especially at this time of the
year. If you want to build the perfect hedgehog hibernaculum (the special
nest they use for hibernation) I would suggest gathering a big pile of dry
leaves, then surrounding these with a tent of twigs. Around this, build a
structure of heavier and larger pieces of wood until you have got an
amazing ... bonfire.
PLEASE, please do one of three things.
1. Safest is to build your bonfire on the day you want to light it.
2. If that is impossible, then please do check blunt end of a garden rake
poked into the base, then lever it all up and rescue whoever might be
living there.
3. Finally, for large events where this is impossible, consider surrounding
the structure with hedgehog proof fencing. That might sound like a lot of
work, but do you really want to risk an incinerated hedgehog on your
conscience?
And please don't burn your leaves!
Hedgehogs cannot survive
hibernation without an insulating
layer of leaves.
There are many more simple ideas to
help hedgehogs at Hedgehog
Street and the British Hedgehog
Preservation Society. Drop by their
websites and have a look. And if you
want more ... I will shamelessly point
you to A Prickly Affair and Hedgehog,
the two (very different) books I have
written about our favourite animal! I
run courses too Hedgehog Ecology
and Management for Practitioners,
aimed at land managers, local
authorities, ecological consultants
and developers ... drop me a line at
HedgeOx if you would like me to run
one for you. Hugh Warwick
Stephen Howse’s clock
An 1876 map shows the land
known as Elms Farm, Botley to be
surrounded by fields and
agricultural buildings. In 1916
Stephen Howse and his wife Kate
moved with their six children from
Yarnton, purchasing it with
Hutchcomb Farm from Lord
Abingdon and his creditors.
When the southern bypass (A34)
was finished in 1935, Stephen
Howse decided to apply for
planning permission to build a parade of shops to serve the growing local
community and his family. This being granted, Elms Parade was built in
1937. Many of the Howse family have at some point lived in the flats and
in fact Shop Number 1 (now Spicers Opticians) was originally run by the
family as a grocery and general store.
The building of Elms Parade was a brave decision considering the
depression of the 1930s and the Second World War two years away.
After Stephens death in 1941 and Kate's in 1952 , the family decided to
erect a clock in their memory in the middle section of the projecting roof
gable. The letters are enamelled bronze which was the same format as
the original shop names the last to survive was Gaisford Hairdressers,
which lasted up to just a few years ago. The twelve letters of Stephen
Howse’s name replaced the numbers on the clock.
Originally the clock was from English Clock Systems of London which
was a half-minute impulse clock with workings in the lounge of Flat 5.
According to Arthur Howse, this could make quite a loud noise! It ran on
nickeliron batteries, with negative outer cases and positive centre poles,
linked together to make 12 volts in 9 cases.
In 2003 a new movement and hands were installed, made by Smiths of
Derby. The movement has an auto restart unit which controls the clock
during power failures as well as providing automatic summer and winter
time alterations. It was upgraded in 2010 to model SA15/18 which
incorporates the memory battery.
There have been a number of problems over the years especially at
winter and summertime change-overs! There have been at least three
new motors and fuses in the past few years which suggests that the
motors were faulty. Fingers crossed there should now be no further
problems.
Elms Parade is still owned by the Howse family, some third and now
fourth generations. The 1930s iconic terrace has been deemed a
"heritage asset" and has remained despite being marked for demolition
in the original proposed redevelopment, which luckily failed to materialise.
The Howse family are extremely grateful to all those who helped preserve
this building, which is very dear to them.
Hedges Butchers, formerly of the Covered Market in Oxford, now
occupies Shop 3. It is open for business and well worth visiting and we
hope it will be very successful. These are challenging times but, all being
well, Elms Parade will thrive and prosper for many years to come.
Caroline Kellner nee Howse, Trustee of Elms Parade and grand-
daughter of Stephen and Kate Howse.
Really affordable homes, at a place near you!
Many of you will know that since 2012, Oxfordshire Community Land
Trust has been doing everything in its power to create a few permanently
affordable homes in the
parish. We were very close to
starting on site in 2015 when
we hit a legal issue. The photo
shows three CLT directors
clearing the site when it was
first acquired five years ago.
Three years on this has finally
been resolved and we are
back in business. In July we
had an open meeting in Dean
Court Community Centre at
which TSH (local) architects showcased our revised plans for the site. We
will soon be submitting a new planning application. We are still
committed to
i. building affordable homes
ii. homes for people in housing need and
iii. homes for people with a local connection.
Why is this important I hear you say? . It’s so tiny, what difference can it
make? Well, I agree its not huge but, starting with this tiny site, OCLT’s
hope is that by demonstrating what is possible there could in time, be a
small similar community-owned, community-led housing development in
every neighbourhood or village. That would make a difference. 610
homes in every village and suburb in the county!
The benefits of our model need to be spelled out but in the absence of
time and space only two will be listed here:
Permanent affordability: unlike developer-led homes no one is in this
for the money, and in particular there is no Right to Buy so the home
doesn’t go on the market and remains affordable to someone in need,
in perpetuity.
Antidote to loneliness: Homes are designed with local needs in mind
and co-operation and neighbourliness are designed in through
various mechanisms. We’re not talking ‘Grand Designs here but
perhaps ‘Small Designs’ where the attention to detail, so beloved of
Kevin McCloud, is in local hands and the buildings are made with
future residents involved or if not involved, at least in mind. The
intention is to design in whatever the opposite of loneliness is. Would
developer-built homes be quite so small and poor quality if the
directors were going to live in them themselves?
As the Dean Court Project slowly progresses we are thinking about the
next steps to develop the sector. A huge plus was a recent government
announcement of £163m until 2020 specifically for community-led
homes.www.gov.uk/government/collections/community-housing-fund.
OCLT hopes to benefit from this. But you could too!
This article is a call to local people: this is the time for other groups to
come forward. OCLT is working with Community First Oxfordshire to set
up a local advisory hub to develop as many viable groups as possible.
Get in touch if you can help with any of the following:
You know of some land that could be brought forward for community-
led homes. In other parts of the country we hear of philanthropic land
owners who are considering selling off-market or donating land to a
land trust or similar local group where there is an asset lock. Adding
No Right to Buy ensures the benefits remain with the local area in
perpetuity.
You know of any individuals or
groups who might want to try to either
build or retrofit an existing home to
provide permanently affordable
homes (as has been done at the
Kindlings Housing Co-op in Cowley.
www.kindlingcoop.org )
OCLT are at the early stages of
developing a Community Share Offer
to help fund the building of the Dean
Court Project next year. It is hoped to
do this with Ethex
(www.ethex.org.uk). Let us know if
you’d be interested in being one of
the investors.
If you can help with any of the above,
or just want to find out more, you can
email me on fran.ryan@oclt.org.uk
Fran Ryan, OCLT
Citizens Advice offers
haven for "hate crime” victims
Victims and witnesses of hate crime in south
Oxfordshire who are unwilling to talk directly to the
police now have a place to go to report incidents.
Since July 2018, Citizens Advice Oxfordshire South and Vale has
become a "hate crime reporting centre", providing a safe environment
where you can tell specially trained staff what happened to you. Citizens
Advice staff and volunteers can then act on your behalf, contacting the
police if you want this, and referring you to "Victims First", a service which
will provide the support you need to recover from your experience.
Hate incidents or crimes are acts of violence or hostility directed at people
because of their personal characteristics or because of what other people
think those characteristics are. For example, you might be verbally
abused in the street because you are disabled or gay, or because
somebody thinks you are.
Hate incidents are commonly sparked off by people's prejudices over
disability, race, religion or sexual orientation. These incidents take many
forms, including threats and harassment, verbal abuse, intimidation,
physical attacks, hate mail or online abuse, or damage to your home or
car.
You can report a hate incident or hate crime even if it wasn't directed at
you personally.
Contact Citizens Advice in person during opening hours or on the
telephone (Adviceline 03 444 111444). Locations of offices and opening
hours are at www.citizensadvice.org.uk/local/oxfordshire-south-vale
Brownies and Badges
Less than a fortnight after our Brownie Holiday we welcomed Iris to our
Pack at the start of the new term.
Apart from the Leaders it has been
all change with Girlguiding
introducing a new programme.
We volunteers are trying to
understand what it all means as
well as advising the Brownies not
to delay doing those interest
badges that they always meant to
do but never got round to doing!
We have a year to get to grips with
the new programme and then all
the old badges will be gone, to be
replaced by fewer badges.
Girlguiding tells us that the new
programme has six consistent
themes that run all the way from
Rainbows to Rangers.
In the meantime, it was time to
number-crunch all the interest badges that had been earned at 2nd Botley
Brownies and work out who had won our 21st Shield and, consequently,
our Brownie of the Year. Attending every event that we offered over the
last year would have achieved eight badges in the following order: Free
Being Me, 28 Days Around the World, Brownie Skills, Out & About,
Equaliteas, Trefoil Challenge, Robin Hood Challenge and either Brownie
Holiday or Brownie Holiday Advanced. Not even all the Leaders managed
to attend everything, so the chances were that the top girls would have had
to do some interest badges on their own.
Some 153 badges were given out in the last year and it turned out that the
top spot with nine badges was shared jointly by three girls. The whole point
of our unit's 21st Shield is that it is something special which we started when
our unit turned 21 in 1993 and is only given out to one girl (or, very
occasionally, two) who has worked hard all year earning her own interest
badges as well as those that we offer. Therefore, we had to distinguish
between the top three girls as there was no way they could all be called our
‘Brownie of the Year.’ Analysing the actual badges they had earned, we
decided to weight the badges according to whether or not they had done
them on their own. This enabled us to find an eventual joint winner. The first
place was shared between Connie and Wiktoria, with Leah earning second
place (see photo above). Congratulations!
Owls Tawny and Snowy have just returned from an adventure weekend
recce. Tawny managed to find us an adventure holiday firm approved by
Girlguiding that offered free (yes really!) taster mini weekends. It was rather
like a prospective university visit with all catering included, crossed with an
actual adventure weekend. As we
never ask our Brownies to do
anything we are not prepared to
do ourselves we must say that we
had a great time trying
(sometimes more than once)
some of the activities on offer.
We were extremely well looked
after and after wonderful cheese
and wine (not available to the
girls) we won the quiz evening by
teaming up with Warwickshire
Brownie leaders to beat both the
resident team and school
teachers from Essex and Suffolk.
After the enthusiastic response
we received from our feedback to
our unit about the weekend we are
now looking into making a
booking.
Lucy Howes
Wytham Woods’ Dark Secret
It is difficult to imagine,
whilst strolling through
this peaceful, ancient
woodland (parts of
which date back to the
Ice Age), that a
hundred years ago it
served a sinister
purpose. It was here
that World War One
training trenches were
dug. They can still be
seen winding almost a
mile between the trees
at the northern edge of
the woods. They are now the most extensive trenches left in the south
of England.
I was taken around them by Nigel Fisher, the Conservator of Wytham
Woods. He rather modestly described his role, quoting an Oxford
professor, as “the groundsman who creates the playing fields for
researchers of Oxford to play in!
At first all I could see was a long hollow snaking between the trees,
possibly a supply line (see photo).
Moving further into the woods, the complex web of trenches became
evident, heading off in various directions. The aerial photograph clearly
(on this month’s Sprout cover) shows the ‘northern front’ and the
‘southern front’ thus creating ‘no man’s land’. From the ‘fronts’ lead
trenches for communications and supervision, supply lines, officers’
shelters, latrines, passing places and shell trenches or ‘slits’ - the deepest
trenches - replicating as closely as possible the real thing.
Training here would have been the Oxford University Officers Training
Corps (OUOTC), one of the oldest units in the British Army, dating back
to 1642, to which CS Lewis was attached as a cadet. Oxbridge
Universities supplied many young officers and tragically the OUOTC lost
some 2,000 during the conflict. The ffenell family generously donated the
one-thousand-acre Wytham Woods estate to the University in 1943. Thus
this year marks both the centenary of the end of the Great War and the
75th anniversary of the University’s taking custody of the estate and its
trenches.
How appropriate that the woods that once provided a training ground for
young soldiers should have become a training ground for young
scientists.
Mike Bartlam
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crumb of Comfort (3)
The Manna Café
It was a hot day on 25 August, when I
and my partner visited the Botley
Baptist Church’s café on the 1st floor of
the Grant Thornton building, next to the
Church’s temporary home during the
West Way centre redevelopment.
The Manna Ca has a comfortable
village-tea-room atmosphere, created
by wicker furniture and surrounding
wattle fencing which separates it from
the Church proper. There’s also a baby
bouncer, a couple of shelves of books
and a wall display of about a dozen
clocks. Some of this has been donated by customers.
We got a cheerful welcome from Megan Antell, behind the serving
hatch.She served us coffees and Jaffa-inspired sponge cake made by
her mother, Anna Antell. Anna is a Baptist church luminary,
semi-professional baker and caterer, and founder of the Manna Café,
which is an independent business.
As you munch, it is possible to look out of a window to view Botley from
a higher perspective, which gives a more spacious feeling than at street
level. We were told that if you present a copy of The Sprout when you
buy a slice of cake, your coffee (or tea) will be free.
The Manna is open 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Saturday.
Grant Nightingale
Randoms
Photo Competition
What did you think of the photo on last month’s cover?
The Sprout is aware that John Gaisford, who took it, is just one of many
of our readers who have been documenting the changing face of Botley
as the shopping centre bites the dust. We’d love to know what other
images people have come up with. So we’re inviting you to send us your
photos with captions, if you like and we’ll publish the best ones. Here
are a couple of crackers to get you started. Brian Russell Gray took them,
as the Westway Tower came down.
First bite Look out below!
WWCC AGM
West Way Community Concern Annual General meeting will be held on
Tuesday 27th November at 7:30pm at the Church Hall of St Peter and St
Paul's Church, West Way, Botley.
Mary Gill
Farewell lovely tree
We weren’t the only ones to mourn the passing of the Baptists’ beech
tree (Crumbs of Comfort, last month). Thank you, Uwe Ackerman who
sent us this photo. That respectful bunch of tulips on the right says it all!
Fundraising with fireworks at Botley School
The Bonfire Night jamboree is the Friends of Botley School’s biggest
fundraising event of the year, and the cash is sorely
needed, given the state of some of the school
buildings. This year it will be held on Friday 2nd
November, and will include hot food, BBQ and
refreshments. The gates open at 6pm, and the
massive firework display will be at 7. Tickets are
cheaper if bought in advance, and can be got from the
school office or Botley Library. Laura Jones (chair of FOBS)
Botley Bridges courses for families
First Aid Course and Family Links: Our First Aid Course for Parents
and Carers is on Monday Nov 5th, 13pm OR Tuesday Nov 6th,6.30
8.30pm at Botley Bridges, cost £20 per person, (non-mobile) babies
accommodated. NO STAY AND PLAY SESSION ON MONDAY 5TH due
to the First Aid course taking place.
Family Links nurturing course starts on Wednesday Nov 7th, 7pm
9pm, cost is £40 per person (£20 for those on income related benefit).
This covers the whole 10 weeks as well as the course handbook.
For a place on either course, please contact Hayley or Sue at Botley
Bridges. See www.botleybridges.org
Macmillan Volunteers
We know how hard it is to cope with the physical, practical and emotional
effects of cancer. It can leave you feeling isolated and finding essential
tasks hard to perform. Coping can be especially difficult if you don’t have
family or friends close by, or if you worry that you are always asking for
support from the same people. But Macmillan’s trained volunteers can
give you a helping hand. They can help for up to 12 weeks with things
like: light gardening or housework shopping lifts to one-off
appointments preparing a light meal having a chat and a cup of tea
going out for a coffee, visiting a garden centre or going for a walk support
over the phone. Call us on 01904 756402 if you’d like to know more.
Christmas is Coming @Branches Café!
Branches Cais a social enterprise and our purpose is youth work. In
our After School Youth Café sessions in the run-up to Christmas
(MondayThursday, 3pm-5pm), young people can come into the Café,
relax, have soup or a hot drink and make festive wreaths or Christmas
decorations contemporary, funky or traditional. From 1st Dec we would
welcome pine cones that we can decorate or donations of random
Christmas decorations that no longer suit your colour scheme so that we
can create a spectacular Christmas tree. We are open to everyone for
breakfast and lunch, 8am3pm MondayThursday, 8am5pm on Friday
and 9am12pm on Saturday. During the Youth Café sessions, take-away
is available.
Diane Long, Director, Branches Young People’s Support Service
Organizations: If your organization is not listed here, please send details
to editor@thesprout.org.uk or telephone 724452 for inclusion.
1st Botley Brownies
Girls aged 7–10
Dean Court Community Centre Thur 6–7.30 Fiona
Wheeler, firstbotleybrownies@gmail.com
2nd Botley Brownies
Girls aged 7–10
Rosary Room, Yarnells Hill. Tues 6:15-7:45 Alison
Griffin 2ndbotleybrownies@outlook.com
4th Oxford Scout Group
Beavers, Cub Scouts, Scouts
Scout Hall, Arnolds Way; mail@thefourth.org.uk
Website: http://www.thefourth.org.uk/
15th Oxford Scout Group
Boys and girls welcome
Meet Fridays, Botley Baptist Hall Contact: Julie Tatham
01865 863074 or Amy Cusden 07887 654386
Baby & Toddler Group
Tues/Thurs 9.15–11, SS Peter & Paul Church Hall
Badminton Club
Thurs 7-8pm at Matthew Arnold Sports Hall. Garry Clark
0777 3559 314 garryclark13@gmail.com
Books on Wheels R.V.S.
Free Library Service for housebound Ox. 248142
Botley Boys & Girls F.C.
Football teams from ages 8-16
Jason Barley Ox. 242926 jbarley1@ sky.com or
Brendan Byrne 792531 brendan.byrne999@gmail.com
Botley Health Walks
Wednesday 9.30 a.m Contact: Briony 246497
Botley Library
01865 248142. Open till 7 on Friday and 1pm on Sat,
otherwise 9.30 to 5.30 (closed Wednesdays).
Botley Singers
Thur 7.30, St Andrew’s Church, Dean Court. Angela
Astley-Penny Ox.242189 angastpen@aol.com
Branches Café, Elms Court,
Open to All 8am-3pm,
Youth Cafe @ Branches 7-9pm evenings tbc. Tel:01865
251115 www.branchesyouth.uk Facebook Branches
Youth Cafe, Instagram @_branches_youth_
Community Fridge
For all. Put food in, take food out. Ss P&P church, Mon–
Sat 9–5, Sun 11–5. Riki Therivel 07759 135811
Cumnor Choral Society
Friday 7.30 to 9.30 pm Contact: 01235 533726 or
07552 786127 or www.cumnorchoral.co.uk
Cumnor Chess Club
Thurs 7–9pm Cumnor Old School. Steven Bennett
862788 www.cumnorchessclub.co.uk
Cumnor & District Historical
Society
Last Monday of the month 7.30-9.00 Cumnor Old
School. 01865 724808
Cumnor Gardening Club
Details on website at http://cumnorgardens.org.uk/ or
phone Chris Impey, 01865 721026
Harmony InSpires, Ladies'
Acappella Singing Group
Wed 7.30 at Appleton village hall. C. Casson 01235
831352 or harmonyinspires@hotmail.co.uk
Hill End Volunteer Team
Contact: David Millin on david.millin@hill-end.org, call
01865-863510 or visit www.hillend-oec.co.uk
Let’s Sing! – singing group
Weds 2pm, WOCC, details Emily 07969 522368
or email emformusic@outlook.com
Morris Dancing – Cry Havoc
Barbara Brett 249599 or bag@cryhavoc.org.uk
Mum and Baby Yoga for
babies from 6 wks to crawling
Mondays 10.30 at Dean Court CC, contact Jacqueline
Rice via https://yogawithjacqueline.co.uk
North Hinksey Preschool
and Childcare Clubs
MonFri 7.45am 6.00 pm. 01865 794287 or email
nhps.manager1@gmail.com
N Hinksey Art Group
Weds 10 – 12.00 W.I. Hall Tel: Christina 07931 707997
N Hinksey Bellringers
Contact: Ray Rook 01865 241451
N Hinksey Conservation
Volunteers
Meets at weekends. Contact Voirrey Carr
07798743121 voirreyc@aol.com
N Hinksey, Friends of
Annual Cricket Match & Walk. Douglas Bond 791213.
N Hinksey Horticultural Soc
Contact: Ann Dykes Ox 251821 anndykes@hotmail.com
N Hinksey Parish Council
Alan Stone 01865 861992 nhpcclerk@msn.com
N Hinksey Youth Club
Wednesdays at Arnold's Way pavilion, call Daz on
07791 212866 or see Facebook
Over Sixties Lunch Club
Every other Thursday. Seacourt Hall. Viv Smith 01865
241539 or Jackie Warner 01865 721386
Oxford Flood Alliance
R Thurston 01865 723663 or 07973 292035
Oxford Flower Arranging Club
4th Thursday Cumnor. Dympna Walker: 01865 865259
Oxford Otters
Swimming for people with disabilities. Sundays, twice
monthly. Contact: Alan Cusden 723420
Oxford Rugby Club
Boys and girls from 5, kevin.honner@ntlworld.com
Seniors, training etc jbrodley@chandlings.org.uk.
Oxford Sports Lawn Tennis
Club, N Hinksey
Family club: Melanie Riste 848658 or
melanie_riste@hotmail.com
Parkinson’s Disease Soc
Contact: Pen Keyte, Branch Secretary 01865 556032.
Raleigh Park, Friends of
David Brown raleighpark@raleighpark.org.uk
West Way Day Centre
Mon & Fri 10–3pm, Field House, 07740 611971.
oxfordshirehub@royalvoluntaryservice.org.uk
Saturdads
Botley Bridges
Fun activities and trips for Dads and under 5’s
10 am–noon 1st Sat of month. Tel: 243955
Seacourt Hall management
committee
Contact: Michael Cockman 07766 317691
michael.cockman@gmail.com.
Shotokan Karate club
6+ WOCC twice weekly Martyn King 07836 646450
Weight Watchers
Thursdays 6pm at SS Peter & Paul Church Hall Banso
tel: 07779 253899 bansob@aol.com
West Oxford Bowls Club
Contact details on www.westoxfordbowlsclub.co.uk
West Oxford Taekwon Do
Club
Mon, Thurs 6.30-8pm, MA gym, contact Chris Hall
07815 899698 www.wotkd.co.uk
West Oxford U3A
(Uni of the 3rd Age) http://westoxfordu3a.org.uk/
Women’s Institute (Botley)
Liz Manson, 244175 email liz.manson@virginmedia.com